I will never away walk from fight for fairness

PM on his 'mandate to change the country'

- BY ASHLEY COWBURN Deputy Political Editor and LIZZY BUCHAN Political Editor

KEIR Starmer yesterday vowed he would never desert his battle for social justice, after surviving his worst day in office yet.

Amid a furore surrounding Peter Mandelson, Mr Starmer's pick to be US ambassador but whose deeper-than-suspected links to paedophile Jeffrey Epstein then emerged, the Prime Minister defied those calling for him to quit.

In a passionate speech 24 hours after Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar called on him to resign, Mr Starmer said: "There are some people in recent days who say the Labour government should have... a fight with itself, instead of a fight for the millions of people who need us to fight for them.

"And I say to them: I will never walk away from the mandate I was given to change this country. I will never walk away from the people that I'm charged with fighting for and I will never walk away from the country that I love." Speaking on a visit to Hertfordshire, where he met fellow Arsenal fan Phil Markham and others, he added: "The fight coming up in politics, the real fight is not in the Labour Party.